Regional Photometric Modeling of Asteroid (101955) Bennu

Golish, D. R.; Li, J. -Y.; Clark, B. E.; DellaGiustina, D. N.; Zou, X. -D.; Rizos, J. L.; Hasselmann, P. H.; Bennett, C. A.; Fornasier, S.; Drouet d'Aubigny, C.; Rizk, B.; Daly, M. G.; Barnouin, O. S.; Seabrook, J. A.; Philpott, L.; Al Asad, M. M.; Johnson, C. L.; Rozitis, B.; Ryan, A. J.; Emery, J. P.; Lauretta, D. S.
Bibliographical reference

The Planetary Science Journal

Advertised on:
8
2021
Number of authors
21
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
4
Refereed citations
4
Description
We present a regional photometric analysis of asteroid (101955) Bennu, using image data from the MapCam color imager of the OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite (OCAMS). This analysis follows the previously reported global photometric analysis of Bennu, which found that Bennu's roughness was difficult to photometrically model owing to unresolved surface variation. Here we find that, even with a high-resolution shape model (20 cm per facet) and automatic image registration (<1 pixel error), Bennu remains a challenging surface to photometrically model: neither a suite of empirical photometric models nor the physically motivated Hapke model were able to eliminate the scatter in the data due to pixel-scale variations. Nonetheless, the models improved on the global analysis by identifying regional variations in Bennu's photometric response. A linear empirical model, when compared with independent measures of surface roughness and albedo, revealed correlations between those characteristics and phase slope. A regional Hapke analysis showed the same structure in its single-scattering albedo and asymmetry factors; although the Hapke parameters were loosely constrained, complicating interpretation of their spatial variation, the regional variation in relative parameter sensitivity also correlated with shallower phase slope, higher albedo, and less macroscopic roughness.
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Minor Bodies of the Solar System

This project studies the physical and compositional properties of the so-called minor bodies of the Solar System, that includes asteroids, icy objects, and comets. Of special interest are the trans-neptunian objects (TNOs), including those considered the most distant objects detected so far (Extreme-TNOs or ETNOs); the comets and the comet-asteroid

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León Cruz